Our Exhibitions Officer, Joyce Paeson, is leaving us (see her letter below) but she has left us with a tempting taste of what is coming up at the museum…

Terry Pratchett has left the building and Brian Graham has moved in. But Terry went out with a bang:

The new exhibition has been quite a change of scene for the museum! Luckily I have had the help of a wonderful team of volunteers to help me de-install, paint the rooms and set up the new exhibition. Below you can see them in action!

Sue Martin and Sophia Sample helping me to set up the Brian Graham exhibition

Brian Graham: Towards Music (27/01/2018 – 12/05/2018). This exhibition represents a unique interpretation of the evolution of music and dance. By creating a series of 40 painted reliefs, Brian takes us on a visual journey, exploring how he imagines the beginnings of music-making and dance. This body of work also reflects his research in fields beyond art and encompasses science, archaeology and anthropology. Each of the works is dedicated to a piece of music, a composer or a significant figure from the world of music and dance. The results are stunning and eloquent works, which inspire us to think about our ancestors living long ago, and how they communicated through sound and movement and the ultimate joy of this.

There is a list of music available on Spotify to listen to. Just type in Brian Graham. It is a selection of Brian’s favourites.

The exhibition ends on the 12th of May. After that we welcome Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows (26/05/2018 – 30/09/2018).

This will be the first major retrospective on the artist since the exhibition at the Manchester City Art Galleries in 1984. The Exhibition is co-curated by Harry Moore-Gwyn, an independent curator, dealer and writer on modern British art, whose previous shows have included Kenneth Rowntree (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden), Laurie Lee (Royal Geographical Society) and Walter Bonner Gash (Alfred East Gallery, Kettering). This exhibition is a partnership between Salisbury Museum and Poole Museums through the Wessex Museums Partnership.

Henry Lamb (Adelaide 21 June 1883 – Salisbury 8 October 1960) was one of the leading British figurative painters of the first part of the twentieth century. A close associate of Augustus John, patron of Stanley Spencer and friends with members of the Bloomsbury Group he was also a founder member of the Camden Town Group in 1911. He was a very accomplished musician and trained as a doctor, friends describing him as a well read, erudite conversationalist. He became a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery (1942) and the Tate Gallery (1944). He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1940 and a full Academician in 1949.

Portraiture played an important role in his career as a painter, but his townscapes and landscapes as well as his early subject pictures of Ireland and Brittany and his work in both World Wars reveal him to be a painter of considerable range and talent. This show will give a full retrospective of his work.

Gola Island, 1913, Private Collection

The last major exhibition of 2018 will be a touring exhibition from the British Museum on hoards. We are currently working together with the British Museum on the object list. The partners will be:

After the success of the first Spotlight Loan tour from the Wessex Partnership we have decided to continue with our own spotlight tours. This second series of Spotlight Loans between the four leading museums (Dorset County Museum, The Salisbury Museum, Poole Museum and Wiltshire Museum) will focus on ‘Made in Wessex’. Wessex has been a centre of making for thousands of years. The downland, heathland, rivers and coast of Wessex have shaped the making and use of artefacts, from ancient flints to contemporary ceramics. The new tours will tell the stories of Dorset and Wiltshire focusing on this tradition of making, and reveals some surprising and fascinating objects to illustrate the theme.

Our first spotlight loan will be four examples of Crown Dorset Pottery. The Crown Dorset Art Pottery was established by Charles Collard in Poole in 1905. The pottery produced was very similar to that of the Devon potteries where Collard had previously worked, although Collard also developed new styles.

The pieces you see in the image below are examples of Cottage Ware, produced for the tourist and cheaper end of the market in a range of shapes and sizes. These were usually decorated with country scenes and a motto in Dorset dialect, often quoting the Dorset poet William Barnes.

Between November 2017 and November 2018 you will see the following objects:

It does when it comes to henges, apparently. At another of the museum’s excellent talks last week, Dr Jim Leary spoke about his work over the last few years at Marden, in the Vale of Pewsey, and about the amazing discoveries there, with Reading University and Historic England (formerly English Heritage). Marden is described as Europe’s largest Neolithic henge, enclosing over 15.7 hectares, and an even larger one is probably waiting to be excavated at nearby Cat’s Brain (yes, really!), both beating Avebury for size.

Marden Henge, Vale of Pewsey

The Vale of Pewsey lies between Stonehenge and Avebury but is not part of the World Heritage Site. Nevertheless, it is as full of archaeological ‘goodies’ as anywhere else in Wiltshire. Perhaps even more so. Dr Leary explained that the relative lack of interest in the area is because, unlike the higher ground where Stonehenge and Avebury stand, the Vale has been ploughed continuously for thousands of years and any remains are less obvious.

As with Avebury , the ditch around the henge at Marden is on the inside, with a bank outside of that. The assumption is that this was to protect the people/audience/congregation from what was inside. Whatever that was! Like Avebury, and, indeed, Durrington, there is evidence of Neolithic buildings on the site before the banks and ditches were built. In this case, there is a rectangular building with a chalk floor where the archaeologists are even investigating the layer of dirt and dust which had accumulated on the floor when it was in everyday use. A PhD student is doing a thesis on what this dirt can tell us! There is evidence of burning in the area, the same signs of ceremonial feasting as at Durrington, and a midden.

The artifactual finds are of astonishing beauty (exquisite arrowheads) and possibly unique (pottery with a white ‘slip’ made from crushed bone, possibly human).

Thanks to Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and English Heritage for this photo. Wilts Museum has an on-going display of information and artifacts from this excavation

Inside the henge was a large conical mound known as the Hatfield Barrow (now levelled) and an inner henge. Hatfield barrow stood tall in the eighteenth century when it was mapped but was later ploughed out. It was likely to have been similar to Silbury. This had Dr Leary on a mission. How many other mounds in the area, in the country even, might have been built in Neolithic times? More on this next week.

The smaller henge has been excavated and shows evidence of huge holes which must have held timber, or possibly stone, at some early time, now completely gone. There is evidence of similar such holes at Stonehenge, marked in the carpark there.

What a time to be in archaeology. Scientific advances will allow that PhD student to do her research on a layer of dirt just a few millimetres thick. DNA and isotope analysis allow us to pinpoint dates and origins to a very exact degree. Dr Leary said that things were changing so fast he was never able to recycle his lectures to students anymore!

The excavations continue this year, having begun in 2015. After that will come the analysis of what has been found and the publications. If we want to visit the Marden site we are more than welcome. The team are there every day this summer except Fridays and the students of Reading University conduct guided tour for visitors. Go in the coming weeks or miss the chance! Click here for further details.

The Spotlight Loan programme of the Wessex Group of Museums (of which Salisbury Museum is one) has been intriguing for its choice of objects. Each of the five museums involved has contributed just one item to the tour.

So far we have seen three. Last year we had the Tibetan teapot from the Russell Coates Museum in Bournemouth, more recently the Poole Pottery plate with its seaplane motif from Poole Museums. Each item tells part of the story of the town, and is in its way iconic of the place. We could have fun trying to do the same thing for our own home town or somewhere we visit on a holiday..what single item is there in the local museum which could be said to speak for the place over the ages?

Currently on display at Salisbury are the leg shackles from Dorchester County Museum. These were used to restrict the movement of inmates of the nineteenth century Dorchester Prison. They bring to mind the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six agricultural labourers of the Dorset village of that name who were convicted of taking an illegal oath of loyalty to, and secrecy about, their Friendly Society. The setting up of this Society was part of their effort to negotiate a better wage at a time of great hardship in the countryside.

The men were eventually pardoned but not before they had been transported to Australia for their crime.

The men are celebrated today as heroes of the early Trade Union movement.

This stunning ceramic is from Poole Pottery, and normally in the care of Poole Museums.

This object is the second part of a Spotlight loan tour between the museums involved in the new Wessex Museums Partnership set up between the leading museums across the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire and including Poole Museum

Wessex has a rich history connecting the region to countries around the world. Our links to Europe and Asia date back to prehistory. An eventful maritime history connects our ports to North America and beyond. Local collectors brought back to Wessex exotic treasures from their journeys of discovery around the world. Thus, the story of Wessex is a truly global one.

For the next twelve months the member museums will be sharing the story of Wessex in the wider world by showcasing an artefact from their own outstanding collections to the other partner museums.

Some of you may have noticed that, at least for a few weeks, we have a lovely Tibetan Teapot in the corridor. This object came from the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. It was given to Sir Merton Russell-Cotes by the explorer Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Younghusband, who brought it back from Tibet in the early 1900s.

This object is part of a Spotlight loan tour between the Wessex 5 Partners. The Wessex Museums Partnership is a partnership between the five leading museums across the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire: Poole Museum, Dorset County Museum, Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum.

Wessex has a rich history connecting the region to countries around the world. Our links to Europe and Asia date back to prehistory. An eventful maritime history connects our ports to North America and beyond. Local collectors brought back to Wessex exotic treasures from their journeys of discovery around the world. Thus, the story of Wessex is a truly global one.

For the next twelve months these five museums will be sharing the story of Wessex in the wider world by showcasing an artefact from their own outstanding collections to the other partner museums. Currently some pieces of our Wardour hoard are on display in Wiltshire Museum, Devizes.

Through this tour we want to show everyone what a wonderful collection we have and share this with visitors from one of the partner museums.

Touring dates:

1 September – 23 November 2016: Tibetan Teapot from the Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum

On Monday 10th October, Salisbury Museum hosted a conference for the Wessex Museums Partnership. Wessex Museums is a partnership between five leading museums across Dorset and Wiltshire; these include the Poole Museum, Dorset County Museum, Russell Cotes Museum & Art Gallery, Wiltshire Museum, and ourselves. Nearly one hundred individuals, from a range of different backgrounds, attended the day-long event. It was brilliant to see so many people present at a conference that was all about working together; particularly in a time where heritage organisations are often struggling for financial support.

The day consisted of several talks from various speakers; Georgia Malin and Gracie Divall discussed partnerships with national museums in relation to the British Museum and Tate, respectively. Stephen Feeke, director of New Art Centre at Roche Court, described their experiences of partnerships with the Arts. Malcolm Burgin and Andy Worth spoke about their involvements community partnerships. The afternoon session comprised a summary of the Wessex Museums Partnership so far by Michael Spender, followed by a workshop break-out session. This session involved splitting into themed groups to discuss opportunities for partnership working. I joined the learning group – which highlighted some very useful points, including working together with universities. The day then concluded with a talk from keynote speaker, Tony Butler, and final thoughts from the day’s discussions.

As someone who is just starting out their museum career, I found the conference very interesting and an incredibly valuable experience. It really emphasised to me the importance of networking and cooperation between different organisations in order to further the aims of individual associations. A personal highlight was Malcolm Burgin’s talk on charity Alive! (one of the leading practitioners in the UK of meaningful activity for older people in care), and how they work together with particular organisations. His words really inspired me to research further into ways to make the arts and heritage more accessible to those living in care. For me, Alive! was a brilliant example of how partnerships really can help engage a wider range of audiences with art and heritage – arguably one of the most important goals for all heritage organisations. It was a really enjoyable and useful day; I greatly look forward to seeing the Wessex Museums Partnership continue to expand in the next few years!

If you were in the Museum on Monday you cannot have failed to have noticed the buzz! The Wessex Museums Partnership, of which The Salisbury Museum is a member, held a Conference at the Museum and about one hundred were welcomed through the doors.

The Wessex Museums Partnership is a thriving partnership of five leading museums across Dorset and Wiltshire. By working together, the museums – Poole, Dorset County (Dorchester), Russell-Cotes (Burnemouth) and Wiltshire Museum (Devizes), along with Salisbury – can be ambitious in their plans. An early project is the Spotlight Loan Tour whereby each of the museums is lending a key object to each of the other museums in turn. Currently exhibited at Salisbury Museum is the Tibetan Teapot from the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth. Still to come, the Bronze Age woman’s burial hoard from Wiltshire Museum, the Poole Pottery Empire Airways Dish, and the Iron Leg Shackles from Dorchester Museum. Each has its own fascinating story.

The Conference has been described as “inspiring” by those who attended (see the tweets and Facebook page!) and this is not surprising when we see who was speaking – Georgia Mallin from the British Museum, Gracie Divall from the Tate, as well as experts from the five Wessex Museums and local interested bodies.